We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
***THIS REVIEW IS FULL OF SPOILERS!***
How do you categorise a book like this? Is it horror? Yes, but it’s all in the mind of the reader. Is it a murder mystery? Not really, although everyone in the novel walks in the aftermath of a murder. Is it a psychological drama? If so, it’s one with lots of humour and irony.
It’s pretty easy … (Read more)
Thin Air by Michelle Paver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A suspenseful, atmospheric horror set in the Himalayas in the 1930s. The story follows Doctor Stephen Pearce, a last minute replacement on an expedition to climb Kangchenjunga, back then believed to be the highest peak in the world.
A malaise seems to follow Stephen, in the beginning seemingly only due to the bad weather, his love/hate relationship with his brother Kits, and troubles he left behind in London. But … (Read more)
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Do you remember when you started reading Jules Verne, marvelled at the places he described, the ruins of Atlantis, the rivers of Africa, the caves at the centre of the Earth? Do you remember when you realised his world was not actually our world, but one made of myths, of hearsay, of wonder and imagination – maybe not real, but definitely more romantic*?
Valente’s solar system in Radiance is … (Read more)
The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
3.5 stars, rounded up because I ultimately liked it.
Is it weird to judge a series of which you haven’t read the first installment? Well, I started reading with The Deaths of Tao, which I got as part of this year’s Hugo package and, while I do intend to read The Lives of Tao at some point, I do not feel the urge to do it right … (Read more)
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was… nice? OK? I really have a hard time finding much about it that I didn’t like, but there isn’t much of particularly exceptional either. (Except for Csevet. Csevet rules.)
(mild spoilers follow)
Maia is a particularly nice main character who main characteristic is being nice. Granted, I’m extremely glad that he has enough political knowledge not to be the stupid kind of nice who makes … (Read more)
Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Haunted castles! Stitched-up minions! Walking suits of armour! Bats! donkeys! Several kinds of not-quite-dragons! And a 12-year old Wicked Witch who isn’t exactly who she says she is. These are the ingredients of Ursula Vernon’s latest novel and all I can say is I need a sequel now.
If you read my other reviews you already know what I love about Ursula’s books: the humour, the clever resolutions, … (Read more)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars, really.
Before elaborating, I’m going to quote from two other reviews here on Goodreads because I think they summarize my opinion quite well.
Flannery: “This book is nostalgia porn.”
William Cline: “Ready Player One doesn’t draw from 1980s popular culture; it just name-drops it all over the place.”
First things first: I liked Ready Player One, it’s a solid first book, and I’m curious of what else … (Read more)
The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“When your future husband is a mad sorcerer, following hedgehogs sometimes seems like the only option.”
Initially born as a retelling of Bluebeard, this story stands on its own and becomes something else entirely. For one, most of the wives are still alive in this version, and for some of them that’s definitely not an improvement.
Kingfisher/Vernon has a rare skill, in that she can imbue a book … (Read more)
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m kinda conflicted about this one, and it makes me sad, since I wanted to love it so much.
It’s not the change in characters so late in the series (only one more book to go): Hawthorn and Tamburlaine are lovely, especially the little troll’s struggle to understand human society and all its little quirks and unspoken rules that make absolutely no sense.
It’s not … (Read more)
The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Part autobiography, part business insider, part long-form blog post, The Art of Asking is an insightful slice into Amanda Palmer’s mind and her relationship with the fans.
While inspired by her TED talk on the same topic, this book is (thankfully) not really a business model. Unlike those self-help books that try to translate life experiences … (Read more)
